Sesame and Lilies

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

1293

Title

Sesame and Lilies

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

In this collection of lectures, John Ruskin urges young people to value their time, cultivate modesty, and reject idleness and cruelty. He argues that women possess unique wisdom and virtue essential to society, drawing on Shakespeare and Scott to illustrate how women guide and redeem men. Ruskin calls for a return to honest labor, moral integrity, and the appreciation of beauty in daily life.

Summary up to 500 words

John Ruskin's *Sesame and Lilies* is a collection of lectures originally delivered to young men and women, offering profound guidance on moral development, the value of education, and the distinct virtues of men and women. In his opening lecture, Ruskin emphasizes the brevity of life, urging young people to avoid trivial pursuits and instead cultivate a well-ordered home and a library of valuable books. He identifies idleness and cruelty as the two most serious faults, warning that true happiness depends on how one passes their days. Ruskin also addresses the economic realities of his time, criticizing the carelessness that leads to famine and advocating for public education as the true cure for social distress. The subsequent lectures explore the nature of womanly power, arguing that women are not merely shadows or servants to men but are infallibly faithful, wise counsellors, and pure examples. Ruskin analyzes the works of Shakespeare and Walter Scott to demonstrate that while male heroes often fall due to folly, vanity, or weakness, women provide the wisdom and virtue necessary for redemption and stability. Characters like Cordelia, Desdemona, and Emilia are presented as faultless, whereas male figures like Othello, Hamlet, and Coriolanus succumb to their own flaws. This analysis extends to Dante, Italian knights, and Greek mythology, consistently portraying women as the source of wisdom, justice, and self-sacrifice. For instance, in Dante's *Divine Comedy*, Beatrice saves the poet from hell and guides him through paradise, while in Greek myth, figures like Penelope and Andromache exemplify enduring virtue. Ruskin argues that the greatest of all virtues is Charity, and that true education enables individuals to consult the wisest minds of the past to guide their own unstable opinions. He contends that the relations between the manly and womanly natures should be harmonious, with women acting as the guiding force that sanctifies and stabilizes society. Ultimately, Ruskin calls for a society where both men and women strive for moral excellence, recognizing that the power and happiness of life depend on the cultivation of these virtues and the rejection of idleness and cruelty.

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4.2/5

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Categories

• Essays
• Women
• Social Problems
• Conduct of Life